FAQs

Here are many of the questions we frequently hear from our website visitors.  We hope you will find the answers to your questions here.  If not, just give us a call at 1-800-303-3781 and we would be happy to help you.

1) Is your teleconferencing service really FREE?  What's the catch?

Yes, our teleconferencing service is really free. Really!  With our standard service, you may hold a conference call with up to 96 participants anytime (24-7) at no charge. You just enter your name and an email address and you will receive a dial-in number and your own personal access code that will allow you to host calls.  There will never be a bill for our services. The only thing to be aware of is that this is a TOLL number (not an 800 toll-free number) so if your participants call-in from a landline (hmmm, do people still have those?) and if they do not have a flat-rate long distance plan, they may be charged for the call.  So, be sure to let everyone know that they need to call-in using cell phones or flat-rate long distance plans to make sure the call is free for everyone! With the Event service, we will provision you with a FREE service that can be used for up to 1,000 people at anytime and includes recording. It also uses a TOLL number, so the same thing applies as far as long distance charges.

2) Can international callers participate in the conference call?

Yes, the number is a toll number and can be reached by anyone who can dial a US number.  Overseas callers can use their Skype minutes or calling cards to connect to the call for a very low cost.

3) Who is eligible to use your services?

Anyone is welcome to sign-up and use the free teleconferencing services for any purpose.  The Standard and Premium Text4Giving services are available only to verified non-profit organizations who solicit donations and meet the Mobile Giving Foundation requirements. Our Greater Texting service is available to churches, ministries, non-profits or businesses that want to communicate with their members, donors or customers through an unlimited mass text messaging service.

4) Is the charge for the 800 service per minute for every caller on the call?

Yes. You will be charged for everyone who connects to your conference call using the 800 number. So, if you have a call with 5 people for an hour, you will be charged for 300 minutes (60 minutes  x 5 callers).

5) Can I really start using the Txt4PrayerGroups, Txt4Churches or Txt4Marketing service at NO charge? 

Yes.  You can set up an unlimited number of groups, create your mobi-sites and QRcodes, set-up 10 keywords and send up to 250 message all for FREE.  Additional messages are purchased on a pay-as-upi-go basis.  The more you buy, the cheaper they are.  So, $10 will purchase 100 credits and $50 will purchase 1,000. There is no time limit for use.

6) Do I have to sign a long term contract?

Most of our services are offered on a month by month basis and you can change or cancel your service at anytime.  The exception is the Text4Giving Standard service, which requires a two-month minimum and the Text4Giving Premium service, which requires a six-month minimum.  That is because those services require us to provision your account through the Mobile Giving Foundation and there are fees we must pay associated with those campaigns, so we need to have a commitment from you before undertaking those campaigns.

9) Can I select another amount (besides $5 or $10) for Text Giving?

Nope.  At this time, the only amounts the carriers are allowing are the $5 and $10 price points.  However, your donor is allowed to text in multiple times during a month (some carriers allow 3 times a month and some up to 5 times a month). We are sure that once everyone gets used to the idea of giving via text-messaging, the carriers will lighten up the rules a bit and allow larger donation amounts.  We know it's tough being groundbreakers!

10) How do my donors get their receipts showing their tax deduction?

For TextGiving, the donors will receive a line item on their cell phone bill that shows their donation to the Mobile Giving Foundation, which is tax-deductible.  The Mobile Giving Foundation acts as a 'clearing house' for all the funds donated via texting and then 're-gifts' those funds to the NPO.  

For TextPledging, we handle the collections via credit card, check or electronic funds transfers and the donors will receive a receipt stating the amount they donated to your organization.

11) What is the difference between Text4Giving and Text4Pledging?

Text Giving allows for small "micro" donations to be added to a donor's cellphone bill.  The advantage is the ease with which the donor can donate.  The disadvantage is the length of time before the funds make their way to you the NPO (sometimes as long as 90 days) and the lack of donor information available (usually just the phone number).  TextGiving is kind of like the guy who throws a fiver in the red kettle (except you have his number!!).

Text Pledging allows for larger "macro" donations to be made.  The advantage is the ability to ask for larger dollar donations (like when at a fund-raising dinner) and the ability to receive the donor identifying information (name, address, etc) and the quicker collection time (assuming your donors do honor their pledges!).  The disadvantage is that it is labor intensive (phone calls need to be made to the donor to collect on the pledge) and some of your donors may flake out on you and not pay their pledges!

12) What is the difference between Standard Text4Giving and Premium Text4Giving?

Standard Text4Giving only provides you with the ability to use one keyword for the purposes of fundraising $5 or $10 amounts from donors that are then charged to the cell phone bill.  This is perfect for those times when you have a campaign going on where you want to add the ability for the donors to text-in small dollar donations.  Premium Text4Giving is designed for the times when you want to run a long-term text giving campaign that includes a text message campaign, additional keywords and perhaps a fundraising dinner or gala where you can use Text4pledging.

14) What kind of support do you provide?

We are dedicated to providing you with the best support available for your conferencing and text messaging needs.  We are available 24-7 via telephone and we provide training materials, marketing templates, and technical support for all our services and work closely with the Mobile Giving Foundation to solve any carrier service issues with keywords and text giving campaigns.